Place of Origin

England

Date of Composition

ca. 1450

Description

This medieval English manuscript  of 72 leaves contains texts on a range of secular topics, including hunting, heraldry, and chess, as well as interesting texts on miscellaneous historical, biblical, and culinary subjects. Most of the manuscript was copied circa 1450 by John Porter, Member of Parliament for the city of Worcester. However, the culinary material, which is written on leaves 46-54, was copied by another individual whose identity is unknown. Pages 46r and 46v contain two menus of city banquets, the first a Lenten breakfast (jantaculum) given by Richard Lee, one of the sheriffs of London, on 14 March 1453; the second "the sergeauntes feast" for the term of St. John Baptist in the same year. In addition to the two menus, this portion of the manuscript includes cooking recipes on pages 47r, 53r, and 54v. Pages 51r-52v contains notes in Latin of moral aphorisms from the Bible, from Proverbs to the Apocalypse. Pages 53v-54v contain a brief treatise on the preservation of health, of the Regimen Sanitatis type.